Catching Up
by SplitPersonalities
Summary: For Ryou Misaki, the past he didn't remember was catching up, both online and offline.
1. Offline: Headaches

_...I kinda feel dumb for doing this since there's other kinds of fics almost (note I said almost) like this._

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the .hack series. If I did, I'd be cutting out some characters or give a brutal death to characters I didn't like.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Troublesome Headches and Dreams**

Lately he's been having headaches.

Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for Ryou Misaki, player of Haseo in the popular online MMORPG _The World_, but it has been affecting his performance at work. Worse, it had worried his boss and co-workers when he'd collapsed and fainted after a particularly bad one. All he could seem to remember was a bright red flash of light before he'd lost consciousness. So, he was then sent home on orders by his boss to rest. Luckily it was summer break, he wouldn't be fainting anytime soon at school at least. He didn't need his parents to know about something as insignificant (to him at least) as this.

Speaking of his parents, if they found out he was playing _The World_, they would probably drag him back to where they lived and he couldn't allow that. It had taken him numerous arguments until they'd finally let him have some sort of independence. He was going to a school they chose for him, the least they could do was let him live on his own. Even though they paid for his apartment and utilities, at least he'd gotten them to agree he could work for his own things like food, internet, and miscellaneous stuff.

The only rule they'd set up, and constantly told him, was to not play _The World_.

Ryou had no idea why his mother and father were so anal about him playing _The World_. Back then, he thought it was silly for them to be so paranoid about some online game. He'd really only secretly played, because some others at school talked about it. He didn't see the harm in trying it out, but after the ordeal he went through he wondered if his parents knew about the dangers of it. It felt like they were keeping something from him and he had a feeling it had something to do with the time he couldn't remember after being in a coma.

Right now, as he lied on his bed, he felt it was best to take his boss's advice and rest a bit.

_**~Dream~**_

"Hey, wake up!" Ryou's eyes snapped open as someone seemed to hit his head. "About time you got here, I've been waiting for so long." Ryou blinked, not believing what he was seeing. "What, cat got your tongue?" There, floating in front of him, was his ten-year-old self.

"You're…me?" Ryou asked hesitantly.

"Well, half actually," The boy seemed to smile, floating around the dark abyss they were in. "The other half isn't here, but you'll meet him soon, that is, if you can recognize him."

"If he looks like you I doubt it'd be any trouble recognizing him." Ryou snorted, crossing his arms in a Haseo-like manner.

The boy laughed. "Naw, he doesn't look anything like me. I bet you don't even know what I am, do you? If you don't even know what I am then there's no way you'll know what he looks like." At this, the boy seemed to smirk. "I'll give you a big hint though. Things are always different offline and online, but sometimes they'll collide with each other."

"What kind of a hint is that?" Ryou asked, confused.

"Not saying anymore, it'd ruin the game." The boy laughed.

"Stop screwing around with me!" Ryou yelled, before something seemed to sear through his head. "A headache?" He wondered aloud. "How? I'm dreaming aren't I?"

The boy frowned. "Dang, she's getting closer." He scowled, before floating close to Ryou. "You need to get away from here and wake up now!" The boy yelled, pushing Ryou.

"Hey! What?!" Ryou felt himself fall into the darkness that surrounded him.

"We'll talk later! If you see the other half – " The boy called after, his words fading as Ryou felt the darkness close in on him.

_**~End Dream~**_

Ryou gasped, crimson eyes flashing as he jolted upright in his bed. Remembering his dream, he tried to make sense of what the short encounter with his ten-year-old self was saying, but didn't understand at all.

"It was just a dream." The teen mumbled to himself. "So…why am I thinking so much about it? And what did he want me to do if I saw this…other half?" His eyes narrowed a bit. "Who's this 'she' that was getting closer anyway?" Glancing out his window, he noticed the sun was just setting, the fading light peeking through his blinds. "I guess I wasn't asleep that long." His eyes swept over to his computer that sat there on his desk, M2D and controller right in front of it. "Maybe…playing _The World_ will get my mind off things."

With that, he got up and started up his computer.

* * *

_**AN:** I swear this thing wrote itself. Ehehe, oh dear, I guess I really need to do something better with my time. If you liked it, okay, thank you for reading. If you hated it, sorry it wasn't good. Well, I should really be working on some of my other stuff, but I can't since my mind is ruled by my current obsession...which happens to be the .hack series right now. So, again, thank you for reading the...short chapter I guess. Maybe I should make it a bit longer next time._


	2. Online: Faint Shadows

_Okay...here's the next chapter. Um, thank you everyone who reviewed and the people who put this on thier Alerts (because they need love too), it makes me happy to know someone likes my crap. I'm not worthy of your kind words. T__T_

_Anyway, I wanna thank **Gray **for being my Beta. He was actually the one who gave me courage to put this up._

_Without further ado, here is Darkkiblade with the disclaimer...because he wouldn't let up until he got to._

**Darkkiblade:** She doesn't own the .hack series, if she did she'd be able to pay me back by now.

_ZIP IT!!!_

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"Schwing!" A Gaze Knight fell, disappearing into tiny lights before nothing was left. "Boring, boring, maybe I'll go somewhere else!" A figure smirked, standing where the Gaze Knight had been defeated. "Hyup!" The figure jumped into the air, disappearing into gold rings.

~*~

"Hey Haseo, wait up!"

"Huh?" The Adept Rogue turned around. He'd been resupplying his items in Breg Epona when he heard a voice call out to him. "Hey Silabus, what's up?" He asked the Blade Brandier who'd ran up to him.

"Well, Gaspard wanted me to tell you that he's found some people willing to join our guild." Silabus smiled, a bit nervous at how his Guildmaster would react to the news.

"…" Haseo stared, thinking a bit. "Does Gaspard know them personally?"

Haseo had a good reason for asking this. When Silabus and Gaspard had gone around, a while ago, trying to recruit more people into Canard, he'd agreed to meet with those who'd taken an interest at a location he chose. It was his duty as Guildmaster, after all, to make some kind of a good impression on whoever wanted to join. Plus, he wasn't too keen at having people he didn't know into the Guild Home in Breg Epona. Unfortunately, they turned out to be fangirls.

It had not been a good experience for Haseo, who'd ended up refusing the fangirls when they had pestered him for information not even **RELATED** to the Guild. Needless to say, by the end of the day, no PK or monster was safe from him.

Silabus just shrugged a bit. "Well, Gaspard says that they're frequent customers of his. You'll have to go see him for more information. I have to logout right now, something has come up on my end. By the way, they're by the guild shop, you should go see them. Gaspard says they're good people." He smiled, waving. "Bye."

"See ya." Haseo responded, waving as Silabus disappeared. "As long as they're not fangirls, I guess I could check them out." With that, he walked towards the area where all the guild shops were. As long as he was going to speak with Gaspard, he may as well resupply the guild shop with items he'd gotten from fields and dungeons. As the shop came into view, he saw three figures standing in front of it, chatting with Gaspard.

"Haseo!" Gaspard started waving excitedly when he saw his Guildmaster come into view. "Did Silabus give you my message?"

"Yeah," Haseo nodded, stopping in front of the shop and inspecting the three PC's there. "So…are these the people who want to join Canard?"

"Yup!" Gaspard said excitedly. "I've told them a lot about you and how hard you worked to get our Guild to Rank 9."

"Huh," Crimson eyes scanned the three, before they turned puzzled at one of them. "Kaotin in the Shadows?"

"What?" The female PC looked at him with an equally puzzled look.

"Ah sorry, my bad." Haseo apologized. "Your PC model reminds me of a Chaotic PK I fought." He explained.

While they almost did look alike, there were many differences between Kaotin and the PC in front of him. One difference was the color of their outfits. Kaotin wore purple, while this PC wore light blue. The hair was a dead giveaway too, but then again, Haseo had embarrassingly enough mistaken Atoli for Shino.

"Do you often make mistakes after just one glance?" A male PC with spiky blue hair, wearing an opened red jacket and flared red and yellow pants, asked from next to the female PC, smiling.

"I said it was my bad." Haseo glared, crossing his arms. He eyed the PC on the other side of the female PC. "Don't I know you?"

This male PC looked like he was wearing armor. Horns were on his head and red, glowing eyes peered at him. Well, where the eyes would be, it was unknown to Haseo if those really were the PC's eyes or if it was just the helmet.

"So this is the time that we meet again." The PC smirked.

"Oh yeah, you're that guy…uh…Silver Knight from a long time ago." Haseo scratched the back of his head nervously. "Didn't know you were a frequent customer of Gaspard's, also, I think I saw you at the festival." He recalled the keywords Ovan had given people a while ago, leading them to a festival-like place and, unknown to many, a good AIDA. "Now that I think about it," He looked back at the female PC. "You were staring at a balloon that had her face on it, or something like that." He shrugged.

Silver Knight sweated under the gaze of his two companions. "There was no need to add that last part."

"Well anyway, guess we better get this business out of the way." Haseo voiced, leading back to what they were here for originally. "So, name and class starting with you." He pointed to Silver Knight.

"I am the Silver Knight, a Blade Brandier." Silver Knight introduced. "I am here – "

"My name is Subaru." The female PC spoke, interrupting Silver Knight before he could say anything else, which made him deflate a bit. "I'm an Edge Punisher."

"Huh, it's funny, but I feel like you should be carrying around an axe." Haseo quipped, then looked confused at the words that left his mouth. He didn't notice the three tense. "Sorry, so what about you?" He looked at the last person.

"Crim, a Lord Partizan." The guy introduced. "What you said earlier, did you play the first version of _The World_?"

Haseo blinked. "No, why?"

"It's because in the first version, there used to be a class called Heavy Axeman." Gaspard jumped in.

"Really? How'd you know that?" Haseo gave the Tu Tribe member a raised eyebrow.

"Well, Kuhn told me once." Gaspard replied. "He talks about the first version a lot, when his sickness isn't up at least."

"We really have to do something about that." Haseo sweatdropped. Suddenly, he put a hand to his head as it throbbed and winced as pain seemed to shoot through.

"Are you alright?" Subaru asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Haseo felt the pain dull. "Anyway, I guess I can give you a trial run. To be honest, there are other guilds. If it turns out you like one of those more, then I won't stop you." Suddenly, the pain came back, more intense than before. He clutched his head with both hands.

"Haseo? What's wrong?" Gaspard went to his Guildmaster's side, worried.

"I-it's noth-UAAAH!" A bright red light crossed his vision.

"Haseo!"

As he collapsed, Haseo could hear the voices of those around him fading and darkness replacing the red light that had appeared.

~*~

"Ho-yo," A figure watched the events that had transpired. "Now I wonder what the problem is with him, though I guess I already know." A frown crossed their lips. "So she's getting closer, better find a good place to lay low for a while. We've been doing good for seven years, it won't do to lose before the end." Stealthily, the figure walked away to the backstreets of Breg Epona, smiling as they raised a hand and warped the area a bit. "Time to find a new place to play, I'm sure the others can keep him under the radar from her." With that, the figure entered the Outer Dungeon.

~*~

"*oink* Wake up nose hair!" Haseo sat up abruptly, eyes snapping open as he was hit on the head.

"When will you stop calling me that?" The Adept Rogue glared heatedly, trying to smolder Death Grunty with it.

"*oink* I may have accepted you as a some-what decent Guildmaster, *oink* but **I'M** the real Guildmaster. So stop sleeping and get back to work! *oink*" Death Grunty glared back.

Haseo blinked a bit, as if just realizing where he was.

"We brought you back here." Crimson eyes moved to look at Subaru, who knelt by him. "Gaspard gave us a Guild Key, he was very worried when you had fainted."

"You carried me back?" Haseo asked, face in confusion.

"What nonsense!" Silver Knight jumped in, making Haseo jump in surprise from the man's loud voice from behind him. "Lady Subaru does not need to lower herself to do something that I, her knight, would gladly do for her."

"Oi," Haseo felt a vein pop. "You sound like you want to pick a fight."

"Silver Knight," Subaru stood frowning. "That was uncalled for."

Silver Knight nodded, looking embarrassed. "Yes my lady. I am terribly sorry for my rude words just now." He told Haseo.

"Whatever." Haseo stood."You sure have him on a tight leash." He snickered a bit to Subaru.

"She does, doesn't she?" Crim added in, also snickering.

Subaru gave Haseo a small smile. "It seems you are feeling alright. Maybe you should logout for now, to be safe."

"I don't need you mothering me." Haseo snorted, crossing his arms.

"She's just looking out for you." Crim interjected. "You really did worry a lot of people when you collapsed like that."

Haseo thought a bit before sighing and letting his arms fall. "I know, but…I'm a little worried about leaving you guys with Death Grunty."

The Grunty looked up at Haseo, still glaring. "*oink* Don't disrespect your Guildmaster! *oink*" Death Grunty shouted, jumping up and down angrily.

"How can this…thing be the Guildmaster?" Silver Knight questioned.

"Oh no," Haseo groaned. "I guess I should logout, don't want to see the bloodbath coming up."

"*OINK* WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Death Grunty jumped, knocking down Silver Knight with a powerful kick. "I'm not a thing *oink* I'm Death Grunty and you are lower than a nose hair!" It proclaimed, pointing one of its hoofs at Silver Knight.

"It was nice meeting you." Subaru told Haseo. "I hope you rest well."

"…It's funny," Haseo looked at her. "I keep getting the feeling I should know you." He sighed as Death Grunty got louder. "Well, I guess I should rest. Good luck with Death Grunty, if you do want to join our guild he'll be happy to tell you about it."

As he disappeared in a light, signaling his logout, he didn't see the surprised stare from Subaru and Crim.

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_**AN:** To be fair...I really, really, REALLY don't know what I'm writing. I'm just going with the flow that my mind spits out. Only thing I do know, I wanna fit as many .hack characters into this as I can...and make sure it makes sense along the way. Gah! I hope I do this right and don't mess up later!!! Also, if it turns out I made an exceptionally bad chapter either this or future one's, I'll try my best to make the next one better._


	3. Offline: Nostalgia V2

_I was out voted by my guilt and conscience since...it seemed I did a bad thing making Hotaru's IRL person a guy. Well, I had a good excuse, but I think all my excuses are lame so I'll just go with the sorry and things like that._

_I changed it and most of it's like the previous version, but basically I just worked on a new chapter instead of replacing all the Hotaru boy name to the Hotaru girl names from the previous version. I made more work for myself and got called an idiot by some of my family members for giving myself more work than was necessary, but they're not the one's who have a nagging guilt and conscience._

_Thank you **Gray** for being my Beta, although the last time you didn't tell me most people prefer Hotaru as a girl! I'm not blaming you, it's due to me being unfamiliar with the Legend of the Twilight series that I got confused in the first place. More research for me. DX_

_Again, here's a list of people I used. Real names that're italicized are one's I made up due to it not being...officially created as of yet I guess._

**Online - Real**

Haseo - Ryou Misaki

Hotaru - _Hana Taylor_

Mireille - Mirei Kurokawa

Ouka - _Yuki Satou_

Rena - Rena Kunisaki

Sanjuro - _Anthony Fletcher_

Shugo - Shugo Kunisaki

* * *

The sound of ringing cut through the silence of an apartment.

Ryou groggily opened his eyes, not really wanting to get up. He covered his head with his pillow, hoping to block out the bothersome noise, but the sound just got more persistent.

"I know you're home Ryou!" A childish voice called. "Open up!"

"Should we be bothering your friend?"

"Mirei, maybe he's not home."

"I know he is!" And the persistent ringing of Ryou's doorbell rang once again.

Grumbling, the boy reluctantly got up and tread out of his room. He yawned and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, frowning as the consistent doorbell ringing was getting on his nerves.

"WHAT!" Ryou yelled as he opened the door. "Oof!" He was tackled by a smaller body and fell to the floor.

"Finally, we've been waiting outside forever!" A little girl giggled, looking up at him.

The girl wore an oversized rose colored hat that took the shape of what looked like rabbit ears, but had some sort of small, round, dark red balls at the tips of it. Long, auburn hair sat beneath the hat, framing her face. Her brown eyes shined happily at him.

Ryou sighed. "Yeah, yeah, hello to your to Mirei. Now get off, please." Slowly he got up and his eyes widened, just now noticing others outside his apartment. "Who the heck are all of you?" He noticed a familiar face. "Yuki, is that you?"

"Hello Ryou," Yuki Satou nodded, brushing some of her long, black hair behind her ear and adjusting her over-sized glasses a bit. "Sorry for intruding, but Mirei wanted to see you."

"I could tell." He said wryly, picking up the giggling girl. "Now, please, who the heck are they?" Personally, he'd prefer to curse, but with Mirei here it was a big no. "And what are you all doing at my place?"

"Aw, can't we tell you after you let them in and you serve us tea?" Mirei asked, trying to look cute.

"…Do I get a choice in the matter?" Ryou asked in an exasperate manner.

"No!" The little girl cheered.

"Fine, come on in then." He motioned to the others still outside his apartment.

"Again, sorry for intruding Ryou." Yuki said apologetically.

"That's okay." Ryou set down the little girl in his arms and walked to his small kitchen. "Be sure to close and lock the door for me." He called as he began to set up the tea. Languidly he walked to the living room where they sat. "Water will be done in a few minutes. Now, who are you guys," He motioned to the four he didn't know.

"I'm Shugo Kunisaki." A boy his age introduced. "This is my little sister Rena." He motioned a girl sitting next to him.

"Thanks for having us." Rena smiled, giving him a small wave.

"Um, I'm Hana Taylor." A blonde haired, teenage girl said shyly. Her hair was tied into a ponytail and a hat covered her eyes.

"I'm Anthony Fletcher." A tall man introduced. "I'm here watching over Hana mostly."

"…" Ryou gave the last two a scrutinizing glance. [["You two are from the States, aren't you?"]] He asked them in English.

"Eh?" Anthony and Hana replied in surprise a little.

"Sorry," Ryou heard the water finish boiling. "Wait here, I'll go get the tea." He walked back to the kitchen and began to finish preparing the tea.

"I bet you're all impressed with Ryou, huh?" Mirei laughed. "See, see, I told you he was."

"That shocked me a bit." Anthony spoke. "His English is pretty good."

"Maybe we should ask if he could tutor Shugo." Rena elbowed her brother teasingly. "He needs all the help he can get."

"Aw, come on Rena, I'm doing okay." Shugo whined a bit.

"I don't think Ryou would be able to tutor Shugo." Yuki said. "Or at least, Shugo won't be able to survive Ryou's teaching methods."

"Is it bad?" Hana asked.

"Aw Yuki, don't lie to them." Mirei jumped on the woman, sitting on her lap. "He's a great tutor! Every time I finish the practice he gives me, he treats me to ice cream!"

Yuki sweatdropped. "Mirei, Shugo's not as smart as you."

"She's right." Ryou came back, serving them tea. "Besides, you've almost learned everything I could teach you Mirei." He took a look at Shugo. "No offense, but I doubt you can finish the workload I give you in only two hours. That's her best record at least." He told the boy, pointing to Mirei, who held her fingers up in a V. "Now, why are you all here in the first place? I'm guessing most of you had no choice because Mirei decided to drag you all here." The little girl was beaming. "I knew it was a mistake to tell her where I lived." He sighed in an exasperated manner, sitting on the ground.

"But I was so worried, you never showed up last week." Mirei pouted.

"I called and said I wasn't feeling well, I know for a fact you heard me say that. You were close to the phone when I talked to your mother after all." Ryou rolled his eyes. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Yuki could have helped you taught you some things."

"But she doesn't take me to ice cream!" Mirei whined.

"Uh huh, well finish your tea and go. I have something to do today."

"Aw, don't be mean." The little girl giggled childishly.

"Um," Hana fidgeted nervously in her seat. "Can I ask question?" She blushed a bit as she realized she messed up a little. "How long have you known to speak English?"

"Yes, it was really good." Anthony nodded.

"Small talk huh," Ryou sighed. "Whatever. I've known how to speak English since I was small. My dad owns a major company, so he was just preparing me to take over it. I'm not ungrateful or anything, this way I can earn extra money for my gaming by tutoring." He looked at the clock. "Which by the way, I have something to do like I said before."

"I didn't know you played online games." Yuki said a bit surprised.

"You never asked and don't tell my parents." Ryou shuddered a bit. "Their super strict on me not playing _The World_. No wait, not super strict, they just seem to hate it."

"You play _The World_?" Rena asked, eyes widening. "As in _The World R:2_?"

"Yeah, what of – OOF!" Ryou fell over from where he sat as he was tackled, once again, by Mirei.

"What's it like? What's it like?" The little girl asked excitedly. "Are there treasures? I bet there are lots and lots of rare items!"

"Mirei!" Yuki got up from her seat to get the little girl off Ryou, then set her down. "I think you may have hurt him!"

"I'm okay." Slowly Ryou sat up. "It'll take more than that to take me out."

"Do-do you know if there are Grunties still in the new version?" Hana asked.

"New version?" Ryou raised an eyebrow. "This means, you played the first version? I've been hearing a lot about it lately."

"We all did." Anthony replied. "It's where most of us met."

"What I want to know is if the Dot Hackers came back. Do you know them? Have you seen them?" Rena butted in excitedly.

"People at my school who play always talk about the Tri-Emperor of the Arena, Haseo. Is he really that great?" Shugo asked, a bit curious.

"…Why don't you all just play it to find out?" Ryou asked, then flinched when he saw Mirei's down cast expression. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's just…it's a bit sad to not be able to use the character you took the time to raise." Yuki told him in a hesitant manner.

It got really silent and awkward.

"Well…" Ryou spoke in an unsure manner. "I know this guy at CC Corp. and…someone else. If I ask, maybe he can do something to restore your old PC's."

"Really?" Hana asked.

"Well, the company owes me anyway, it's just a matter of asking." The boy shrugged. "They have to have some sort of logs from the previous version and knowing what username's you all had will make it easier. Besides," He crawled over to Mirei and pulled her cheeks. "If the company can't do it then I know…someone else who can."

"Shtop dat." Mirei whined, tiny hands holding onto the wrists of the hands that pinched her cheeks.

"Then will you cheer up?" Ryou gave her a soft smile, letting go of her cheeks.

"Okay." The little girl brightened. "If it turns out you can, my username used to be Mireille!" She said excitedly, knocking over the boy as she tackled him.

"Ow." Ryou winced as he fell over once again, then looked at the others. "So, who else wants in on this?"

"Um, I would." Yuki shyly said. "My PC was Ouka."

Ryou blinked. "Ouka? Ouka of the Divine Fist?"Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cellphone and pulled up a picture he had on it. Out of boredom, Ryou had put every picture he'd downloaded from the Apkallu Forum onto his cellphone. "Didn't know sweet, shy Yuki had a PC like this." He smirked playfully.

Everyone crowded around to look at the picture. For many, it was a reminiscence of the first version of The World.

"Where'd you get this?" Yuki asked.

"A thread in the Apkallu Forum." Ryou shrugged. "It's an art forum and it seems you still have fans." With that, he flipped his cell shut. "I guess it's true for some people. In _The World_, you can be someone you're not or someone you want to be." He gently pushed Mirei off him in order to stand up. "So, anyone else want their old PC back?"

"I'm sure Hotaru would, right Hana?" Anthony smiled, patting Hana's hat covered head. "I would too. My PC was called Sanjuro."

"Just a warning, the classes are completely different. Most likely if you do get your PC's back, the classes will be set to whatever is closest." Ryou warned in advance.

"Shugo and I won't need it." Rena smiled.

"Yeah," Shugo nodded in agreement. "This time, I'll make my own character instead of having it be based off some legendary player." He smiled.

"Thank you Ryou!" Mirei squealed, hugging the boy tightly. "Even if they say no, thank you trying."

Ryou just smiled at her. He was an only child, so it felt nice to take care of and be looked up to by someone younger than him. He really was a softy on kids, Mirei and Bo were proof of this, and if this little thing (to him at least) could make her happy, then he would do what he could.

Really, that company did owe him for all the crap he went through.

"Okay, now are you all finished with your tea? I really do have something to do today." Ryou told them, pushing Mirei gently off him from her hug.

"Eh, yeah, we should get going." Shugo smiled. "As long as the sun's still out, let's go somewhere, it's been a while since we were all together anyway."

"Yeah!" Rena agreed. "We've stayed here long enough, but it was nice thinking of old memories."

"Again, sorry for intruding Ryou." Yuki bowed.

"That's okay, we both know how persuasive Mirei can be." Ryou smiled wryly, then smirked. "By the way, be sure to invite me to the wedding."

Yuki blushed. "What? What wedding?"

"I'm joking." The boy snickered. "But really, you should be careful about this little girl. She says things that people will misunderstand." He pat Mirei's head, who looked away innocently.

"M-Mirei! What did you tell him?!" Yuki asked frantically.

"Nothing much." The girl said in a sing song voice, before running outside. "See you Ryou!"

"Mirei! Get back here!" Yuki ran after the girl.

"Hey, wait for us!" Shugo and Rena rushed after them.

["By the way Hana,"] Ryou said before the girl could leave, in English. ["If you're wondering about Grunties, you're better off asking someone else. Check the net or something. I don't know how they were in the first version, but I'm sure it's different in the new version."]

She looked at him before nodding. ["Thank you."]

Anthony bid him goodbye and the last two went to catch up with their friends.

Ryou sighed as he shut the door. After cleaning the dishes that were out, he walked back to his room and started up his computer. He set his M2D on his head and opened up _The World R:2._

The Guild Shop wouldn't watch itself, after all, and he did promise Gaspard he'd help today. Plus, this was a good time to restock too.

* * *

_**AN:** You finished this new version? Okay then. I'm gonna go roll around for a bit, it always calms me down after rolling around a bit. Thank you for reading, everyone who did. If you liked it, my work is done. If you didn't, I could care less. If it was a not-so-good chapter, I'll try to make the next one better. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go roll around like I said before. It tempoarily stops the nagging guilt and conscience. I swear they're teaming up against me. Ta-ta. *roll roll roll roll roll*_


	4. Online: The Goddess, the Vagrants

_For those who don't already know, I kinda remade the previous chapter. It's almost the same, but I mostly worked from scratch and it ended up different from the original version. It's mostly the same, but it's still...newish I suppose. Okay, now I'm sure I just repeated myself. I don't know how to say it, but it is different from the original version._

_I don't know if I said this before, but I'm trying to cram as many of the .hack characters into this fanfic, keyword try. So if anyone's waiting for their favorite character...they'll appear sooner or later, I'm mostly seeing where this will go. Also, I don't know about the romance department, I'm not confident in romance. I could work on pairings/romance that was already there, but other than that...well, I'll see how it goes. I'm not in control anyway, I'm just writing what my brain spits out. All I can do is make sure the sentences make sense and there won't be much of a grammar problem._

_Thank you people who reviewed and/or put this on their alert. I'm still surprised people like...some of my brain ooze._

_Thank you **Gray** for being my Beta._

**Disclaimer: I don't own the .hack series or anything officially related to it.**

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"Hello Haseo."

"Hello…Aura."

Haseo didn't tell anyone, but ever since the Cubia incident he had been in contact with Aura. Her sending an e-mail with the addresses of the three Azure Knights was just the start of their correspondence. At first, they'd simply contacted through e-mail, even though she was said to go back and sleep, which was why he told no one. So far, the only ones who knew he was corresponding with her were the Azure Knights. It was understandable that they knew, they were created by her after all.

Now, in the Hulle Granz Cathedral, he faced the goddess of _The World_. It was one of the only places where he could communicate with her face-to-face. One of the other lost grounds may have been sufficient, but Haseo had yet to find out which. It wasn't important at the moment and there were other things occupying his mind.

"Your thoughts look heavy." The girl sat upon the altar where her statue once stood, dangling her feet, covered by her dress, over the edge. "Has anything happened in your world?"

"A bit," Haseo sat on the steps in front of the altar. "There's this little girl in the real world who I tutor, turns out she played the first version of _The World_ before. Well, she gave me this sad look so I promised something that sounds stupid now." He leaned his head back against the altar. "I asked Yata about restoring certain PC's yesterday and it seems the proposition he made was a hit. CC Corp. is thinking of asking some people called the Dot Hackers and some others to come back to the game, to try and gain back its popularity." Gold eyes with a hint of crimson looked up into the blue ones above them. "The Dot Hackers," He spoke in a soft voice. "You…were waiting for them, weren't you Aura."

The goddess smiled. "In a way," She replied. "The Azure Knights, who I hastily made before my departure, were in memory of the Descendants of Fianna."

"Those heroes everyone talks about?" He arched an eyebrow, seeing her nod. "But there were more than just those three, right?"

"Yes." Aura answered. "They were said to have solved the final mystery of _The World_, but in truth, they saved it from destruction as well as saving those precious to them."

"If they come back, if most of them come back, what will happen to the Azure Knights?" Haseo asked. "You won't delete them will you?"

The goddess shook her head. "No, I will leave the Azure Knights to do what they were originally ordered to do, protecting this world in my place." She gave him a curious look. "The three blades I entrusted to you, please, watch over them. I fear they still have many things to learn." Aura giggled. "This time, the heroes of old should enjoy this game as it was meant to be enjoyed."

"Yeah, whatever." Haseo stood. "Well, I better get going. Yata wants to introduce some people he wants us Epitaph Users to meet. Apparently they're new employees from CC Corp."

Aura nodded. "I will not detain you." Slowly she faded into sparkling lights. "I have sent something special to Wiseman, it is a gift for the heroes of old and you, Haseo." Her voice echoed as she disappeared back to her slumber.

"See you later." Haseo walked out of the cathedral. As he stepped out through the doors, a frown crossed his face. "Who's Wiseman?"

"One of mama's friends." A voice said from beside him. Haseo turned around quickly in alarm, eyes widening in disbelief at who was there.

Standing right beside him was a little girl with saffron hair and reddish-purple eyes. She wore a white dress and was barefoot. A teddy bear was held in her arms.

"Hi, I'm Zefie."

~*~

A small, silver, short-haired girl, with crimson ribbons decorating it, trembled as PK's cornered her. She was backed against a tree, her red robe standing out against the color of the tree as her bare feet had bumped against its roots.

"Hey, you ever seen a PC model like this?" A male Blade Brandier asked his partner.

"No, you think it's a vagrant AI? I heard they were starting to pop up again." A female Flick Reaper replied.

"What do you think would happen if we killed one?" The guy asked.

"Who knows, let's find out." The girl grinned wickedly.

They had their weapons pointed at the small girl, ready to strike.

"Bamyon!" Suddenly they fell, all color fading from their PC's. A tall man smirked as he stood in front of their fallen bodies. "Aw, is it over already?" The katars on his wrist retracted, job done, as the PC's faded.

The small girl kept trembling, a bit scared of him. The man wore a dark, navy blue outfit with purple stripes on it and leather guards. His hair was forest green with short hair in the back and long bangs in the front held up with a purple bandanna tied around his forehead. Slowly, as he gazed at her with his crimson eyes, he approached her.

"Well, well, what's a little girl like you doing all alone out here?" He smiled, playing with one of his bangs.

Slowly she calmed down, realizing what he was. "You're like me."

"Maybe a little, but I most definitely am not like you." He grinned. "So, you got a name?" He tilted his head to the side. "It'd be nice to know just who it was I saved. Not everyone is as kind as me to save you from PK's after all." He said smiling.

"…I'm no one." She looked down at the ground. "An unwanted child that even God doesn't want."

"Don't be like that," He knelt in front of her, crimson meeting gold. "If you keep thinking that, it'll come true." He said in a sing-song voice. "And I didn't ask what you were, I asked for your name. Even someone unwanted has a name, right?" He grinned at her.

"…Lycoris." She sighed, giving in.

He smiled brightly. "Wonderful!" In a quick motion, he had swept her up into his arms. "Well, Miss Lycoris, I'm Sora. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Are you going to delete me?" Lycoris asked.

Sora let mock horror cross his face. "Of course not, why would I do that? We're friends now, after all. I didn't save you for my own personal gain…or maybe I did, you never know." He laughed, twirling her around, before setting her down. "By the way, you have a caterpillar on you."

Lycoris just stared at him. "You're strange." Though true to his words, a caterpillar was crawling on her robes. Gently she held it in her hands, before setting it on the infinity symbol that adorned her robes.

"Why thank you." He kept smiling. "Now, what shall the three of us do now?" He thought a bit, before grinning at her. "I got it!" Sora once again swept the little girl into his arms. "Hang tight, we don't want her or them to catch us after all!" Still smiling, he leapt into the air. "Hyup!" Both disappeared into golden rings, leaving the area.

A few seconds after their departure, some people warped in. They scanned the area before some slumped over in depression and warped out.

* * *

_**AN:** I'm not writing this, my brain is. It's making me spit out this stuff. It may sound like a lame excuse, but it's the truth. Thank you everyone who read this, I hope you enjoyed it to some extent. With the amount of dedication my brain is putting into this fanfic, I bet my parents wished my brain would show the same amount to my work/grades. _


	5. Online: Dot Hackers

_I have a perfectly good excuse for not updating in a while...which is two months at most. Due to mental issues caused by the real world, the idea I had for this chapter kept getting scrambled and I couldn't sort it out. I eventually did, just took longer than I like. Also, I wasn't really familiar with the characters from .hack//IMOQ so that warranted lots of research. By research, I mean hours of playing the first four games...when I wasn't busy with college related things and stuff. To be honest, I haven't gotten past .hack//Infection yet. It's harder than it looks so I just keep leveling Kite up so I would just stop dying, not happening though, but I'm trying! On the bright note, while doing so, I successfully kicked half the unwanted voices in my head out and replaced them with the people I've come across so far in .hack//Infection. Now if I could keep it like that I'd be even happier, but, alas, tis not meant to be._

_Thank you to people who reviewed and/or put this on their alert._

_Thank you for being my beta **Grey**!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own any .hack stuff. This is just for fun, so please don't persecute me or anything!!!**

* * *

The Net Slum Tartarga, a place that exists, yet doesn't, in _The World_ that rests on the back of a giant turtle which was Tartarga itself. Since the Cubia incident, access to the Net Slum was restricted and only limited to certain people.

Sora hummed a bit as he walked around the place with Lycoris under his arm. He waved cheerfully to some of the inhabitants of the area, until he reached a door. Smiling he opened it and entered.

"I'm home!" Sora sang, smiling as he entered a small room. "How were my little ducks while I was gone?" He said in a teasing voice.

A young boy wearing blue robes and sitting on his knees with a staff in his lap smiled over to them. He had a small teardrop shaped tattoo on his left cheek and short blonde hair that framed his cherubic face.

"Welcome back." He said. "Who's she?"

"Our newest little duck!" Sora smiled, hugging Lycoris before putting her down.

A young girl dressed in a white dress stared at Lycoris. She had short hair, except for the long bangs that covered the left half of her face. She gave the girl a piercing glance with her lone, right, yellow eye from where she sat, to the right of the boy.

"What about that?" The girl pointed to the caterpillar that still sat on the infinity symbol on Lycoris' robes.

"Something special, just wait a while for it to grow. I promise it will be something really interesting." Sora laughed, taking a seat on the ground, across from the girl and left of the boy. "Well, will you come sit?" He looked behind him, crimson eyes staring at Lycoris as he patted the open spot to his right.

Silently, Lycoris obeyed and sat where the taller man had offered. The caterpillar crawled down from the infinity symbol and into her hands.

"Rumor has it that they're back." The cherubic boy spoke.

"Oh ho, really now?" Sora smiled. "All of them or just some?"

"Too soon for all, but sightings did see the main ones." The boy replied.

"Good job Rumor." Sora patted the boy on the head. "So, did you find anything Morti?"

The girl took her eye off Lycoris. "I saw them searching for ones like us. To destroy or to capture is unknown."

"Hoi yo, they sure are persistent and never seem to learn." Sora sniggered. "They didn't see you right?" Morti shook her head. "Good, you did very well!" He patted her on the head. "But remember, don't do anything to them. We don't want our little group exposed at the moment."

"Group?" Lycoris said uncertainly, fingers gently pushing the caterpillar in her hands. "What kind of group?" Their eyes turned to her.

"We're an emergency group." Sora said, smiling at her. "For what's about to happen, there should be more than one option, no? Everyone in _The World_ is so helpless sometimes; they need all the help they can get." He smirked a bit. "The Goddess most likely knows what's about to happen and called them back. Sneaky, but too obvious."

"Who's '_them_'?" Lycoris asked.

"Why, the Dot Hackers of course." Rumor replied simply.

~*~

Haseo wished Yata would just begin the stupid meeting already.

He was aware of the stares he was getting from the other Epitaph Users, except Bo, because of Zefie, who was playing with the aforementioned boy. It wasn't like he'd wanted to appear with her, but the girl had followed him all the way to Raven's Home. Her following him wasn't a big issue anyway. What was a bit unsettling for him was who it was, exactly, Yata wanted them to meet and why it was they weren't meeting in the Serpent of Lore.

"So…when did you get a daughter Haseo?" Kuhn jokingly asked, receiving an angry glare from the Adept Rogue. A ping sounded and the Steam Gunner looked at the Short Mail sent to him by Haseo.

Ha, ha Kuhn, now shut up and I won't tell Pi about that fantasy of yours that includes her and those other girls.

Kuhn sweatdropped, but sent the boy a quick nod. Haseo smirked in triumph. Maybe now the womanizer would stop telling him useless things whenever they went to level with others.

"She looks like Aura." Endrance said in his airy voice. "Haseo, she's not…your and Aura's daughter is she?"

"NO!" Haseo scowled at the absurd thought. "Of course not!"

"I'm sure Haseo's just looking after her." Atoli beamed positively. "It's so nice of him to do that."

"Or she may simply just be a Vagrant AI." Pi spoke up, adjusting her glasses. "There have been confirmed rumors of them popping up lately. CC Corp. was thinking of starting up the Cobalt Knights again, but Master Yata talked them out of it."

Haseo raised an eyebrow. "And what, exactly, are the Cobalt Knights?"

"They were administrators in charge of debugging _The World_. Vagrant AI's were at the top of their lists many times." Endrance replied.

"Master En is so smart!" Saku appeared next to Endrance, admiring him.

Zefie, a bit grumpy at losing her play partner, went to stand beside Haseo, before smirking as she noticed Wise Grunty, eyes glinting.

"Debugging?" Atoli tilted her head a bit in curiosity. "You mean like the Azure Knights?"

"Yes," Pi nodded. "But the Cobalt Knights were a bit harsher. By the way, Haseo," She turned to the Adept Rogue. "Master Yata wishes for the three Azure Knights to be in attendance."

"What? Why?" Haseo asked.

"It would be wise for certain people to see their counterparts as to not create confusion." Yata appeared with others following behind him. "Little girl, what are you doing to my Grunty?" His eyes shifted over to Zefie.

Zefie just looked up innocently from where she was behind Haseo. She'd placed her teddy bear on the floor beside her and was holding Wise Grunty. Nothing would have been strange about that, if it wasn't for the fact the Grunty's hat was switched from the usual Grunty hat to a farmer's hat and he was now wearing light blue overalls. The Grunty's glasses were also re-colored to pink.

"How cute!" Atoli squealed, kneeling by Zefie to admire Wise Grunty's new look. "He's like a little farmer now. Can I hold him?"

Zefie just stared at her. "Flaky girl." The words came out of her mouth.

Atoli just smiled. Zefie dropped Wise Grunty, who poofed back into his regular clothes, when Atoli grabbed her cheeks and pulled them, all the while still smiling, but some could see an anger mark throbbing on her head.

"Now, now, it's not nice to call people names." Atoli told Zefie, smiling as she continued to pull the girl's cheeks.

"…" Haseo sighed at the display, interrupting it by disengaging Atoli from Zefie by swiftly picking the little girl up. "That's enough. Zefie, be rude another time. Atoli, we are here for a stupid meeting, so let Yata speak so we can get this over with."

Atoli pouted a bit, but nodded. Zefie crawled behind Haseo, clinging to his back as she glowered at Atoli from behind his head.

"Well now, those are some familiar old faces." Kuhn commented as his eyes fell upon certain people who had come with Yata. "Old, uncorrupted familiar faces." He added at the end.

"Uncorrupted? I didn't know this model was in this version of _The World_ or under the impression there'd be a corrupted version of it."

The speaker was a giant, burly, warrior looking Male PC with copper-colored hair. He was a Blade Brandier whose upper body was mostly covered in green with white wave patterns crisscrossing across various parts of his body. His midsection and lower arms were normal flesh tone and he wore little armor with the exception of a harness-belt and a piece of heavy shoulder armor.

"It seems we're still well known." The one standing by the warrior said.

This male Blade Brandier seemed like the epitome of a knight in shining armor, dressed in blue and silver armor like a medieval knight with white hair and blue eyes. The one thing that stood out the most, were the angel-like wings.

"Are you guys the original Naked Guy and Winged Guy?" Saku asked, hands on her hips as she looked at them with one eye raised in a questioning manner. "You two don't seem as creepy as the one's I know. Well, he doesn't." She pointed to the one with wings. "You just look like a dork." She pointed to the one mostly covered in green.

"Orca of the Azure Sea, Balmung of the Azure Sky," Pi informed the girl. "At least try to make an effort to remember their names."

"Grr, don't tell me what to do!" Saku shot back, snarling a bit.

"It was eventual that you would come back." Endrance brushed some of his hair away. "Now it remains to be seen if the others will as well." He gave a soft smile. "It's certainly been awhile Kite, BlackRose."

A blue-haired male Twin Blade clad in mostly red with two tattoos on each cheek and a pink haired, dark-skinned female Edge Punisher with numerous symbols around her body clad in a revealing set of reddish-violet armor stared at the former Demon Palace Emperor.

"Do we know you?" BlackRose asked hesitantly.

"I suppose you two aren't familiar with this form." Endrance replied. "I was once known as Elk."

"Elk?" Kite's eyes widened. "You're Elk?"

"Was," Endrance corrected. "I am Endrance now."

BlackRose walked closer to Endrance, seeming to examine him, much to Saku's chagrin. The smaller girl stood in front of Endrance, halting BlackRose from getting closer to him. The older girl backed off some-what.

"Yeah, I can believe he was Elk." BlackRose nodded in confirmation. "I guess you wanted to be taller, you're almost the same height as Mia."

"Where is Mia?" Kite asked, looking around as he walked to stand by BlackRose. "I would think she would be here with you."

Endrance gave them a pained look. "Mia…is no longer here."

"Hey! Stop badgering Master En!" Saku shouted, glaring at the two. "You may be old friends, but I won't forgive you if you hurt Master En." She said hotly.

"Whoa now," Kuhn butted in, trying to ease the girl's incoming anger by switching the topic. "What a coincidence, I used to be a character called Sieg in – OOF!" He doubled over and fell as Saku kicked him.

"I wasn't finished, don't interrupt me Kuhn!" Saku snarled, before turning back to her previous task.

As Saku ranted on and on to Kite and BlackRose about Endrance and what she would do to them if they did something to him, Atoli was concerned as she saw Haseo falter a bit on his legs. Letting the others deal with the raving Saku, she faced Haseo with a concerned look.

"Haseo?" Atoli spoke in a worried tone. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Haseo replied, readjusting Zefie who still hung on his back. She then decided it would be more fun to sit on his shoulders. "I'm fine."

"If you're not feeling well, maybe you should log off. I'm sure Yata would understand why you had to leave and it's not like we're getting anywhere right now in the meeting. Gaspard said you fainted awhile ago, what –"

"I'm fine Atoli." Haseo interjected, interrupting her words as he attempted to get away from the subject. "It's just…my Avatar acting up."

True enough, Skeith was acting up. Haseo had felt his Avatar pulse inside ever since the appearance of the strangers Yata had brought in. It wasn't anything big, but a wave of familiarity coming from Skeith had washed through him. He'd faltered a bit at first, but managed to keep it under control.

Suddenly, a ding sound was heard, alerting all the ones who heard it, and the graphics seemed to turn fuzzy for a split-second accompanying the sound. At first, the sound had put the returning Dot Hackers in alert, but it turned to confusion as three balls of light seemed to float down. Three forms burst from the light, all drifting slowly onto the floor. For three certain PC's, it was a small shock to see their counterparts.

Azure Kite opened his single, visible, eye and regarded the original in front of him with curiosity. Azure Orca and Azure Balmung, flanking his sides, regarded theirs in the same manner.

"You actually called them?" Kuhn looked at Haseo.

Haseo frowned. "It wasn't me. I haven't had a chance too."

"You wanted them here right?" Zefie said from his back. "So I called them." She grinned, giving them a thumbs up. "Zefie's a good girl."

"So this is what you meant by us being uncorrupted." Orca remarks as he too, like his counterpart, observes the some-what identical look alike.

Azure Kite let out a raspy sounding noise from his mouth, conversing with Azure Orca and Azure Balmung.

"Just having them meet," Haseo spoke, motioning to the returning heroes and the Azure Knights. "Doesn't warrant all of us Yata." He narrowed his eyes at the man. "Just what is it that you need us Epitaph Users here for?"

"Haseo, don't be rude to Master Yata!" Pi frowned, reprimanding the boy.

"Old lady." Zefie said, still on Haseo's back, with an innocent look.

"Old lady?!" Pi glared, adjusting her glasses a bit.

"Easy Pi," Yata calmly said, sensing her anger. "She's just a little girl."

"Zefie, you shouldn't call Miss Pi names." Bo said, having come back out.

BlackRose stared at Bo, who was conversing with Zefie, in confusion. "You seem a bit different from before." She said to the Shadow Warlock.

"Oh, my big sister Saku was using our PC earlier." Bo bowed. "I'm sorry for how she acted, she's really nice though." He gave her a shy smile.

"I suppose I should get to the real reason I called you all here." Yata spoke up. "The meeting of the Dot Hackers and the Azure Knights were but one item on the agenda. A formal introduction of the Epitaph Users was in order as, like the Azure Knights, not to cause confusion in the future." He looked at them all. "Other than the Rebirth, all of us seem to be here."

"Or so it would seem." Ovan appeared, Aina in tow close behind him. "So, the heroes of old have returned. This is certainly a momentous occasion, is it not?"

"Ovan!" Haseo looked surprised, like others, at the man's appearance. "Why are you here? Weren't you spending the day with Aina?"

After he'd come back, Ovan had spent much of his time with Aina. Now and then others would hang out with the two, but he wanted to make up with the lost time she had been comatose due to AIDA. His appearance was still the same, but now his left arm wasn't encased in the huge metal cylinder, matching his right arm perfectly.

"She wanted to meet the heroes the goddess herself holds in high regards." At this, Aina smiled.

"Hello," Aina curtsied a bit. "I felt it was important for my brother to be here."

"Then let us start, I'm sure many of you wish to get this over with." Yata spoke.

"You got that right." Saku had come back out, hands on her hips as she glared at Yata. "Bo and I have better things to do then to stay here and listen to your boring voice. Master En should be the one talking anyway, he'd be way better than you." She sighed dreamily.

"Saku, not now." Haseo groaned. "Please, just let him talk."

"Good, then let us enter the Serpent of Lore." Yata walked towards one of the backrooms of the Home, Pi right behind.

The others followed.

* * *

_**AN:** Yes, this is all I could do after two-ish months. It was an on/off kinda thing. Originally, the idea for this had another part to it, but after two-ish months and lots of stress from the outside world, the idea got split. I'm working on it now though! Good thing writing this and playing video games get my stress levels down. I still have to focus on college related stuff though or else I'll be in big trouble. ^__^;_


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